Durbin 'more positive' about getting debt ceiling deal

U.S. Senate Majority Whip Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) is surrounded by members of the press after a post Senate Democratic Caucus meeting news briefing Friday at the Capitol in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong / Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 official in the Senate, said this morning that he was optimistic about ongoing negotiations toward a deal on raising the debt ceiling.

"I have a much more positive feeling than I did 24 hours ago," he told "Fox News Sunday."

"There is active negotiation under way," he continued. "I think some of the things that are coming forth hold promise. Key elements are still being resolved. … We want to move this forward. We want to avert this economic disaster that would occur if we default on our national debt for the first time."

Durbin, a Democrat, appeared with Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona, the Republican minority whip.

The Illinois lawmaker said the deal being hammered out would be a long-term agreement so the issue would not have to be revisited before Christmas. He said it would feature a "significant down payment" toward deficit reduction and establish a joint congressional committee to find longer-term ways to attack the deficit.

The "toughest part," he said, was deciding on a mechanism to trigger automatic cuts in government spending if the committee did not produce a plan.

Durbin, when asked about the prospect of no tax increases being included in a "trigger," said that was bad policy. "If you're serious about real, long-term deficit reduction, put everything – underline, everything – on the table," he said. "Keeping revenues off the table, I think, is a serious mistake."

Will the deal that emerges pass the House?

"You're asking me?" Durbin replied. "I don't know the answer to that. I can tell you that the president is reaching out to both political parties. We're hoping it'll be bipartisan in both the House and the Senate and it will allay the fears that people have across America that this weakened economy will be hurt more if we continue this showdown."

Kyl said it was important to extend the debt ceiling and important to look at the details of an agreement. "I'm sure that that's what we will be doing over the next several days," he said.